The Best Damn Lactation Cookies You’ll Ever Eat

Now, I am the first person to admit that cooking is not my forte. In fact the closest my celebrity has ever come to a celebrity chef is being the warm up comic for a pilot that Paula Dean was a guest on. And just for the record she IS as sweet in person as she is on TV and she loves butter just as much as you think she does- I don’t care how much she’s changed her diet post diabetes.But that’s neither here nor there. This blog entry is dedicated to the “Milk Mommies”, the ladies who like myself are doing their darndest to keep the milk flowing for their little nursing ones.I applaud all of you who are part of this club. Breast feeding is SO not the easy task that one might think it is nor does it come as second nature or as naturally as it seems it should. It’s hard work made harder when the baby you so wish to nourish doesn’t have an abundant milk supply. Some women’s boobs runneth over. Others of us must use supplements like Fenugreek, Blessed Thistle, Goat’s Rue, etc…but the tastiest thing I’ve come across thus far is Lactation Cookies- that I swear on my cracked nipples work. There are several recipes out there, I’ve take a bit from here and there, but this is my own recipe that has made some of the best batches of cookies me and CJ, my non-lactating husband have ever had. Oh, and these cookies were a hit at “Baby Breastfeeding Bootcamp” so I can vouch for them.

Here is goes… Ingredients:

3 cups of steel cut/ old fashioned oatmeal

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of chocolate chips (I prefer the milk chocolate morsels)

1 cup of butter (I prefer salted)

4 table spoons of water

2-4 tablespoons of Brewers Yeast (be generous)

2 tablespoons of Flaxseed Meal (I’ve used plain and the milled Flaxseed from Trader Joe’s with blueberries)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of baking soda (yes like Arm & Hammers)

IMPORTANT! Do not substitute the brewers yeast… that’s the ingredient which makes them work.

Method:

Preparation time is around 15-20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350F.1) Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes.2) Cream (beat well) butter and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well.3) Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the butter mix. Beat until blended.4) Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips.5) Add to butter mixture. Stir in oats then chips.6) Scoop or drop onto baking sheet. The dough is a little crumbly, it might be easier if you use a scoop- I just use a spoon- no need to get too fancy.

*Again, I can only vouch for myself, but this definitely increased my milk supply and it was a delicious treat that was easy to make. A HUGE plus when you’re crazy busy with a newborn.

**Where to Get Brewers YeastYou can get brewers yeast from health food stores, or in the health food isles of supermarkets. It’s a bit cheaper to buy brewers yeast from supermarkets than from health food stores.

As Paula Deen and I would say, HAPPY NURSING Y’ALL!!!

Karith

Hey, Y'all I'm Karith, a Texas-raised bi-coastal transplant and I am on way to becoming a first-time mommy. I am also a 30-something professional stand-up comedian, author and speaker who resides in both NYC and LA. I performs on each coast and many of the states in between. I recently got married and even more recently found out that we were pregnant. Yes, it’s a “Honeymoon Baby”! So, now, because of my occupation I have to have fun, make fun, and laugh my way through this major event in my life. I want all of you who can relate to have a laugh too and if all goes well- something pretty fantastic- aside from my first child will come out of this. You can read more about my adventure on www.diaryofapregnantcomedian.com and learn more about me and my comedy on www.karith.com.

do you know how many calories per cookie. I’m counting calories because I’ve been gaining too much weight while breastfeeding feeding. The cookies are the best I just want to be sure I’m not having too many a day.

Just made these yesterday for a friend who had a baby last week. Really wishing the recipe made less because I do not need this many amazing cookies available. Haha, just kidding! For anyone who is wondering what my experience has been like: I used spelt flour instead of whole wheat flour, old fashioned oats instead of steel cut (though I have some steel cut that I would like to try), I used unsalted butter (which I always do for baking), though the recipe calls for adding eggs one at a time but you don’t actually need any eggs for the recipe and I added a cup of fresh frozen blueberries (we picked them then froze them). Holy crap. I have eaten waaaaayyyy too many of these already. Must give away the rest!

WOW!!! I made these cookies and just ate my first one and they are delicious. Even if they don’t help with my milk supply they are divine. I used 2 eggs and 4 tbsp of Brewers yeast. Followed the recipe exactly except for I split the batch and put peanut butter chips in half and chocolate chip in the other half. Looking forward to seeing if it will help my supply!!!

I doubled this recipe and have the cookies in the freezer for after baby comes… I used a 2TB scoop for the cookie dough and it made 79 cookies… my husband and daughter love them! I think they are super yummy! I used all organic ingredients and non-dairy chocolate chunks (not chips). The cooking time is spot on too; the cookies are perfectly soft in the middle but not underdone. Thanks for the awesome recipe!!

These will make good vegan cookies. Use vegan chocolate chips like enjoy life. Leave out the eggs. Sub coconut oil for butter. Reduce oats to 2.5 cups or keep at 3 and add water until you have a crumbly dough but sticky enough to stay together.

I have made these twice now and they’ve come out good both times. I used 2 eggs and baking powder instead of baking soda. The first time I used dark chocolate chips and the second time I used mini Reeces Pieces. Each time I used 4 tablespoons of the Brewers yeast.

I read the ingredients so many times and I’m confused about the eggs. It doesn’t list how many eggs under ingredients but step 2 says mix eggs. We only used two. Maybe Thats why they didnt taste good ? 🙁

I made these tonight for myself and another nursing mama and we both loved them! I used 2 eggs, as suggested by other reviewers and slightly under-baked them. They were chewy and so delicious! I used 3 Tbsp of brewers yeast, but I will probably add 1-2 tbsps more next time I make them (the more yeast you use, the more milk production, right?). I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a good lactation cookie.

I was interested in making your lactation cookies for my best friends daughter, but I noticed the directions call for adding the eggs one at a time, but no where in the recipe itself does it even call for eggs! What gives??

I made these cookies last night (1-20-16). I used old fashioned oats (the steel cut ones don’t seem to “cook”, left the cookies too dry and crunchy), 2 eggs, and I used BAKING POWDER. One of the previous posts said to look at other recipes like this one, and I did. They say baking powder also. I used 4 tbsp of the brewers yeast. I used Solgar Brewers Yeast from The Vitamin Shoppe. My first attempt at lactation cookies was with another recipe with brewers yeast from a beer brewing supply store. Let me say…NOT THE SAME YEAST. And it was more expensive there. The justmommies.com recipe turned out pretty well for me. Another person said these cookies were bitter….I don’t know what process they followed, but these are not super sweet by any means. The choc chips help. I will make these cookies again, with a few tweaks to see which variation tastes best. In my experience, the better way to boost supply is to nurse, nurse, nurse. Pump as often as you can. That’s how my supply dipped: I stopped pumping so much. I’m in the process of getting it back to the way it was. DO NOT GIVE UP MOMMIES! Breastmilk is indeed the best thing for your baby. If you don’t overflow the bottle you pump into, so what! Your baby appreciates what you are providing him/her, and just keeping trying. And if it’s not meant to be, don’t beat yourself up. Just know other moms have been there and ARE there with you. Chin up! Much love and respect, Jen.

Reading through the comments, 2 eggs was the general consensus and mine turned out great! I used 3T of brewers yeast (reduced bitterness) and they taste awesome right out of the oven. Thanks for a tasty way to keep/boost milk supply!!

Just guessing here, but I think she may have adapted the recipe to be egg-free but forgot to take out the reference to eggs in the directions. Flax seed plus water is a common replacement for eggs; I made the cookies omitting eggs and using the flax seed + water binder that the recipe calls for and they turned out great.